22 September 2017 – United Nations officials today hailed the establishment of the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which will go a long way in addressing one of the major challenges facing the world’s poorest nations.

The Bank, to be headquartered in Gebze, Turkey, also marks the achievement of the first target of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, namely SDG 17.8.

“This achievement is not only highly symbolic but also of great strategic importance to the LDCs in the overall achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu, the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

There are currently 47 countries on the list of LDCs, comprising more than 880 million people (about 12 per cent of world population), but accounting for less than 2 per cent of global GDP and about 1 per cent of the global trade in goods.

“We must ensure that the LDCs are not yet again left behind,” Ms. ‘Utoikamanu told a press conference at UN Headquarters, stressing that access to technology, science and innovation are critical for this group of countries.

The establishment of the Technology Bank was a priority under the Istanbul Programme of Action adopted in 2011, which represented the vision and strategy for the sustainable development of LDCs. Its importance was confirmed in the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda, adopted at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, and then again in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Bank is expected to broaden the application of science, technology and innovation in the world’s poorest countries. It will improve technology-related policies, facilitate technology transfer and enhance the integration of the LDCs into the global knowledge-based economy.

It will also serve as a knowledge hub, connecting needs, resources and actors; facilitate the access of LDCs to existing technology-related projects; and foster joint initiatives with relevant organizations and the private sector.

“We strongly believe that this Bank will help fill the technology gap and it will also speed up the structural transformation in the LDCs,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu.

With the signing of the host country and contribution agreements, the Turkish Government has committed to provide the Bank with $2 million annually for five years, and also provide personnel and premises in Gebze, which is located outside of Istanbul. It is also planning to implement joint projects with the Bank.

Welcoming the signing of the agreements, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said: “We now have a collective responsibility to turn this tool into an effective mechanism for strengthening the science, technology and innovation capacities of LDCs.

“I appeal to Member States and other stakeholders, including the private sector and foundations, to contribute generously to the financing of this Bank so it may reach its potential.”

22 September 2017 – The threat of terrorism has forced Tunisia to double the budget of its military and security expenditures, Foreign Minister Khemais Jhinaoui told the United Nations General Assembly today, stressing that more international support was needed despite the Government’s efforts to stamp out the scourge.

Indeed, the world’s “hotbeds” of terrorism are fueled by poverty and war, and linked to organized crime, refugee flows and large-scale violations of human rights, and he called for a comprehensive global response to the terrorist threat.

On development, Mr. Jhinaoui said Tunisia has mainstreamed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its national plan for 2016 2020, also aligning its development priorities with African Union’s ‘Agenda 2063.’

Noting that Tunisia would present its first report on the implementation of the Goals at the next session of the UN Economic and Social Council High-Level Political Forum, he said it was critical to consider countries’ specific situations as they implemented those targets.

Indeed, reductions in financing to developing countries – especially those in Africa working to achieve those Goals – would have a negative impact. Tunisia had also signed the Paris Agreement, having committed to reducing its emissions by 41 per cent by 2030.

More broadly, he called for resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict centred on the prompt establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Voicing concern about the conflict in neighbouring Libya, he said Tunisia is playing a mediation role, along with Algeria and Egypt. All solutions to that issue must be in line with Security Council resolutions and avoid creating a leadership vacuum, he added.

Full statement (in Arabic) available here

22 September 2017 – Faced with the same backdrop year after year of unresolved old conflicts and new deadly outbreaks, climate change, impoverishment and under-development, the world has no alternative but to place its hopes in the United Nations, Algeria told the General Assembly today. “Who better to assume this role than our Organization which, even it needs to be improved in many respects, still remains more than ever this unique and irreplaceable instrument in the service of nations, Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel told the Assembly’s 72nd General Debate, calling for institutional reform.

The time has come, he said, for a radical reform starting with the 15-member Security Council, the only UN organ whose decisions have the force of international law, increasing its membership to take account of the vastly different situation existing today from that when the UN was founded seven decades ago.

At every session over the past decades developing countries have sought additional seats, both permanent and elected, to give a greater voice to their continents, especially Africa.

Mr. Messahel promised that Algeria would do what it could to help resolve the conflicts in its neighbours – Mali, Libya, Yemen and Syria.

While pledging Algeria continuing fight against terrorism in all its forms, he called on countries to oppose the advance of Islamophobia, both individually and collectively.

Full statement (in Arabic) available here

22 September 2017 – Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, told the General Assembly today that while the United Nations had been established to build an international rules-based order for peaceful dispute resolution, “we are now in a time when the challenges to that order are increasing.”

“The most egregious example is North Korea,” continued Ms. Bishop, pointing out that the country is openly defying the UN Security Council, putting millions of people at risk. It is crucial for all UN Member States to strictly implement the Council’s sanctions to compel Pyongyang to abandon its “illegal programmes.”

Other threats highlighted by the Foreign Minister were the increasing activities of non-State actors, terrorism and violent extremism. “Global terrorism – and the extreme Islamist ideologies driving it – must be confronted and defeated,” she stressed. Ms. Bishop maintained that terrorism can be effectively battled, and beaten, if everyone worked together, sharing knowledge and resources.

Ms. Bishop drew a link between security and economic development, saying that one cannot be achieved without the other. She endorsed a UN development system more focused on sustainable economic development that provides opportunities and facilitates partnerships with the private sector.

Noting that economic resilience can be undermined by natural and man-made disasters, she cited the 2030 agenda, Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and the World Humanitarian Summit‘s Grand Bargain as “a blueprint for global action on those problems which can only be addressed by working together on challenges that don’t respect national borders.”

Full statement available here

22 September 2017 – Tackling the numerous complex challenges society is confronted with today will require more than just “declaratory undertakings,” Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania told the United Nations, stressing that real progress demands responsibility and action.

Pointing to the links between the threats of terrorism, climate change, and inequality, and the ways in which they have merge in unprecedented fashion to undercut safe, healthy and enjoyable livelihoods across the globe, Mr. Rama told delegations attending the UN General Assembly’s annual debate today that on one hand, “we live in inspiring times […] but on the other, it seems like the world has lost its energy and vision.”

He said global terrorism and radicalization have become a peril that continues to strike blindly and persistently. At the same time, some 65 million people, the highest number since World War II, have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to these acts and threats, among others. The ills are being exacerbated by climate change-driven extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent and more intense.

Citing the universal desire for safety, including freedom from oppression, persecution and violence, Mr. Rama said: “To achieve these goals, we need to go beyond declaratory undertakings. People rightly demand us to show responsibility and ability to act.”

As such, he called for concerted action towards the 2030 Agenda and its landmark Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and went on to detail Albania’s commitment to human rights, citing his pride in the number of women joining the country’s Government leadership.

Turning to international relations, Mr. Rama described his country’s mission to join the European Union as a main priority. “It is not just one objective in our foreign policy; it is not a contractual relation of sorts. For us, the European integration lies at the heart of our overall development since it touches every cell of our development architecture,” he explained.

Full statement available here